MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A Minnesota woman who admitted sending $850 to the militant
group al-Shabab in Somalia has been sentenced to five years' probation.

Forty-three-year-old Amina Mohamud Esse pleaded guilty in 2014 to
conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

She faced up to 15 years in prison, but prosecutors sought probation because
she cooperated. That included testifying against two women in a Virginia case
who each got more than a decade in prison for supporting al-Shabab.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kovats says it's the first time prosecutors
recommended probation in Minnesota's terror cases. He says other Somali
defendants who didn't cooperate got community support but Esse has been
ostracized for doing the right thing.

Esse told the judge she made a mistake and cooperated to correct it.

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